Mother's Finest stay different

Thursday

The members of Mother's Finest celebrated a quiet Christmas with their families, and they planned to do the same for New Year's Eve.

Then The Melting Point called with an offer they couldn't refuse, except that they did - at least at first.

"They called about doing New Year's, and we told them we couldn't do it," said Glenn Murdock, a longtime member of the band. "Then they offered us two nights, and it was cool.

"You got to remember that what you do on New Year's Eve is what you'll do for the rest of the year, and we decided we wanted to be together."

The band that blends funk with rock, rhythm 'n' blues and jazz deserves a bit of a break. Mother's Finest recently was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, but the Atlanta-based group isn't considering retirement.

Murdock is working on a new album with the band and a side project. The group has remastered a 1978 live show that has been reissued. Mother's Finest also put together a rarities collection from a handful of shows that it is selling on the road.

"It's a combination of songs that we don't do a lot and some popular ones that are played in a different arrangement," Murdock said.

Murdock would like for the band to put out yet another CD, a recording of a live, stripped-down acoustic set. The band considered making one of The Melting Point shows its inaugural unplugged night.

The proposition is going to take a little more convincing, Murdock laughed. New Year's Eve is a time to crank the volume up a notch.

"These guys are rock 'n' rollers, and they want to play loud, hard and heavy," he said. "We're going to play a little longer and try a couple of things. It's not going to be boring, that's for sure."

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